A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 6, n. 6)
Epiphany, Year A – January 6, 2008
“Toward The Full Epiphany of the Lord”
BIBLE READINGS
Is 60:1-6 // Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6 // Mt 2:1-12
N.B. Series 6 of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy of Year A from the perspective of the First Reading. For another set of reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year A, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US and open Series 3.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
It was the day after Christmas at the Cathedral of the Our Lady of Angels. The peaceful garden and the enormous sanctuary were blazing with beauty coming from myriads and myriads of potted red poinsettias. The intense red splendor of the poinsettias was utterly fitting for the feast of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen, which we were celebrating that December 26. There were merely a handful of worshippers for the 7:00 daily morning Mass in comparison with the thousands and thousands that came for the Christmas midnight Mass and the liturgical celebrations on December 25. The visiting priest who presided at Mass led us incisively into the spirit of the Christmas season and helped us contemplate the maturity of commitment needed by those who follow the Christ Child, as exemplified by St. Stephen. The presiding priest also informed us of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and requested prayers for the people of Pakistan. The bad news about the trouble in the nuclear-armed Pakistan cast a shadow of sadness on my holiday spirit. I was despondent as images of the suffering Pakistani nation came into my mind. I tried to ward off specters of rampage, carnage and vengeance in that deeply convulsed nation. I prayed for the deceased Benazir Bhutto and all the other victims of violence, hatred and war. I prayed deeply for the safety of the civilians, especially my former student, Sr. Catherine Sardar, a Pakistani. However, as I studied later that day the bible readings of the feast of Epiphany, Isaiah’s prophecy and the Gospel event of the Lord’s “manifestation” mercifully dispelled my gloom. The comforting words of the Scriptures replaced the fearful images with a vision of hope. Indeed, darkness and sadness do not have the ultimate word. The celebration of the Christmas-Epiphany mystery warmly assures us that the birthday of the Lord is the birthday of peace.
The Old Testament reading (Is 60:1-6) proclaimed on this feast of Epiphany presents a prophetic vision of Jerusalem’s future glory even as “darkness covers the earth and thick clouds cover the peoples” (v. 2). This passage needs to be seen against the following historical context: the fall of the kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem (587 B.C.), the period of the Babylonian exile and captivity (587 B.C. – 538 B.C.), and the promise and beginning of the exiles’ return (538 B.C. – 520 B.C.). In its original context, the passage delineates the future grandeur of Jerusalem, restored and rebuilt. It portrays not only the glorious restoration of the defeated and disgraced Jewish nation, but also the universal vocation and assembly of all nations called to give praise to Yahweh.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 1, comment: “The prophet’s gaze focuses on Jerusalem, toward which he sees a long and joyous procession of her children who “were from afar”, i.e. from the Exile from which God has delivered them. On the summit of Zion, the newly reconstructed Temple blazes with the light of candelabra. What a marvelous and glorious spectacle! … Then, in his ecstatic view, all is changed. The city appears to him brightly illuminated, ablaze with the glory of the Lord upon it, while the rest of the world remains in darkness. Toward the glittering light, it is no longer the throng of exiles or the procession of the feast of Tabernacles that is marching up, but the countless multitudes of nations and kings from every land. They bear their offerings – gold, incense, riches – while singing the praises of the Lord. The prophet sees this transfigured Jerusalem, and he lets us see what looms beyond the horizon of history, the point toward which all eyes look, the assembly place for all the nations marching toward the full manifestation – Epiphany – of the Lord.”
The “epiphany” of Yahweh’s glory in Jerusalem and the gathering of nations envisioned in the Book of Isaiah find absolute fulfillment in the marvelous “epiphany” of the Word of God made flesh - Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the Christ Child, born of Mary in Bethlehem, is God’s ultimate “epiphany” or manifestation of love. In the incarnation of the Divine Word is the full revelation of the Father’s saving plan to bring peace and unity to all nations, and to bring redemption to all. Isaiah’s vision of the future glory of Jerusalem gives us a glimpse of the final “Epiphany” – the ultimate manifestation of love in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The “Christian Epiphany” is the grandiose expression of the splendor of God and his abounding love for us.
The “Christian Epiphany” calls for a decisive and positive response like that of the magi. Harold Buetow remarks: “The story of the magi is a story of the ways in which God reveals himself, and even more about the different responses which his revelation receives. There are numerous “manifestations” or “epiphanies” of God in our lives, as well as in both the Old and New Testaments. We can learn much about how to handle God’s manifestations by thinking about the magi … They were going in a definite direction with a specific purpose in mind. They may at times have had to alter their course slightly because of some difficulty or other, but they kept moving forward toward the aim they had in mind: to worship the new-born king. Their following the star, representing an encounter with God, can make us question our own direction in life. They speak to us of that desire for God, which is in the heart of every human being. We, like they, are called to be open to God’s signs, and to go in search of a clearer vision of where those signs lead. We too, are called to offer ourselves with whatever gifts we have.”
One of the most impressive Christmas carols I have ever heard is “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by the French-born musician Noel Regney and his wife Gloria, an American pianist. Limpid, haunting and beautiful, this Christmas song, which is a plea for peace, is borne from Noel’s experience of “epiphany” and vision of hope when the threat of nuclear war was looming over the world community during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Noel wrote the text of the song, while Gloria composed the music, and their little Christmas song, using a benevolent king as mouthpiece, exhorts people everywhere: “Listen to what I say! Pray for peace, people, everywhere. Listen to what I say! The Child, the Child sleeping in the night. He will bring us goodness and light. He will bring us goodness and light.” Richard O’Donnell, together with Gabrielle Regney, the daughter of Noel and Gloria, tell us the story behind the song (cf. “Do You Hear What I Hear?” in ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER, December 2007, p. 26-29).
In October 1962, the Soviet Union and the United States were involved in a crisis centered on missiles the Russians had installed in Cuba. The United States threatened military action if the missiles were not removed. The world trembled and prayed as these two nuclear powers stood eyeball-to-eyeball. That October, as Noel Regney walked through the streets of New York, a sense of despair was in the air. No one smiled. Regney had endured the horrors of war. He knew the fear and terror of being close to death. The safe and secure life he had built for himself in the United States was on the verge of ending. Christmas, which was supposed to be a time of peace and goodwill, was approaching. Noel Regney had been asked by a record producer to write a holiday song. “I had thought I’d never write a Christmas song,” he recalled. “Christmas had become so commercial. But this was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the studio, the producer was listening to the radio to see if we had been obliterated. En route to my home, I saw two mothers with their babies in strollers. The little angels were looking at each other and smiling. All of a sudden, my mood was extraordinary.” A glimpse of these babies filled Noel Regney’s heart with poetry. The little ones reminded him of newborn lambs. Thus the song begins, “Said the night wind to the little lamb …” As soon as Noel arrived home, he jotted down the lyrics. Then he asked Gloria to write the music to accompany his words. “While walking down the streets in New York, my mother heard trumpets playing the melody in her head,” explains Gabrielle Regney. “Noel wrote a beautiful song,” Gloria said later, “and I wrote the music. We couldn’t sing it, through; it broke us up. We cried. Our little song broke us up. You must realize there was a threat of nuclear war at that time.” (…) “Do You Hear What I Hear?” carried a beautiful message close to people in all walks of life … Let us hope and pray that, when it is sung in churches worldwide during the Christmas season, this song of peace will remind us that “The Child, the Child sleeping in the night” came to “bring us goodness and light.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
What do we do in times of personal and world crisis when threats of destruction, sadness and death loom bleakly before us? What is our faith response when “darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples” (Is 60:2)? Do we allow ourselves to be heartened by Isaiah’s prophetic vision of a grandiose and splendid Jerusalem, restored and renewed?
2 Why is the Divine Word made flesh the greatest and ultimate “Epiphany” of our loving God? What is our response to the Father’s gift of Christian Epiphany? What are the lessons we can glean from the magi and their search for the newborn King?
3 Are we ready to welcome the various “epiphanies” of God’s love in our lives and in the world today? Are we willing to be “epiphanies” and manifestations of God’s saving love for the people of today and their quest for meaning in life?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we thank you for the great “Epiphany” of love
that you have given us in the incarnate Word,
Jesus Christ – your only begotten Son.
In Jesus,
the radiance of your love shines upon us with healing rays,
transforming us into people of joy and lovers of light.
Help us to respond fully
to the radiant beauty streaming from the Holy Child.
Transformed by the great “Epiphany” of the Christ Child,
may we in turn be “epiphanies” of your compassionate love
for a troubled world
and for the people of today,
who are in quest for meaning and for the gift of peace.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“But upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory.” (Is 60:2)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: Meditate on the wonders and beauty of the Christian Epiphany. In Jesus Christ and by your acts of charity to the poor and the needy, endeavor to be living “epiphanies” of the Father’s saving love in today’s world. Pray for peace and be a channel of God’s peace, especially for the victims of violence and strife.
ACTION PLAN: To help us experience more deeply the mystery of the Lord’s Epiphany, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (Vol. 4, n. 6): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
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